More from NBC

PRESS Pass: Rick Atkinson

Historian Rick Atkinson said there is "quite a difference" between Americans’ connection to World War II when compared to the more recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan because of the smaller percentage of Americans in uniform.

"Almost no one has someone they love in harm's way. Almost no one has skin in the game."

Atkinson's new book, The Guns at Last Light,is the final in his Liberation Trilogy about America's involvement in Europe during World War II.

The former Assistant Managing Editor at the Washington Post also weighed in on the current controversy over the Department of Justice's monitoring of the Associated Press's phone lines calling it "appalling."

However, he said, the situation is not in the same ballpark as it was during World War II "where there was draconian censorship, and reporters wear uniforms, and they’re effectively in the chain of command"

"My feeling is, that if the Justice Department or the administration is going to be wire-tapping journalists, or they’re going to be examining whom journalists are speaking to, it better be as transparent as it can be," he said, otherwise "it’ll just come around and bite them in the rear end."

Watch David's entire interview with Rick Atkinson above to hear more from the author including what he describes as "an extraordinarily powerful, moving several months in our history."